3 Inexpensive Marketing Strategies for 2017

Marketing has a reputation for being expensive, but it doesn’t have to be the case if you know what you’re doing. Now that most marketing is done digitally, it is tempting to think that the only effective way to market consists of paying for ads and SEO. These certainly are effective ways to market, but they aren’t the only ways to acquire the success your business strives for and if you are in spain you need the help of best online marketing in Marbella.

The below marketing strategies may seem obvious, but success lies in the way that you implement them. If done carefully, there is no reason why you won’t generate traffic and exposure for your company – fast. What’s unique about these three strategies is that they put the focus not on your business but on your target audience.

Start networking

Anyone can network, and that can’t be a bad thing. Good old-fashioned networking is still extremely popular – there are even entire sites dedicated to business networking, such as LinkedIn. These days it’s not about swapping business cards, it’s about ‘adding’ people online; that’s the case whether they are customers, industry peers, or generally just good contacts to have. LinkedIn is now the place to be for any self-respecting business, and it’s also the case that not having a Facebook page could be perceived as not having a serious brand.

In fact, having a Facebook page for your business makes networking much easier and for this reason alone it should be a necessity. If you’re serious about networking, you may also want to consider joining a local chapter of a marketing association or business group; with the latter, you get to have breakfast meetings and rub shoulders with useful contacts and industry peers. You never know where such connections might take your business, and it will often have cost you little or nothing to do so.

By focusing on the people you meet, you get to exchange favours or services etc., making you more memorable to others and more likely to be recommended by word-of-mouth. Since word-of-mouth is a time-tested marketing tactic and one of the most effective marketing methods, it makes sense to do what you can to get others talking about you.

Ask for reviews

When it comes to products and services, reviews are everything. This is clearly evidenced by Amazon’s five star rating system – those star ratings seem to be taken as gospel by the majority of the site’s customers.

Word about your business can spread like wildfire – whether good or bad. Getting happy customers to write you positive reviews is important, even if you have to incentivise them to do so. A bad experience is incentive enough for people to write a review, but positive experiences don’t always inspire people to make a public comment; this means the odds are that if your customer experiences have been a bit ‘touch and go’, you could receive more bad reviews than good ones. However, if the experience was a positive one, they’ll probably respond positively to your request for feedback.

Your target customers will rely on the feedback left by your previous customers, without a doubt. Yelp, Yotpo and Facebook are great sites for your customers to leave reviews on and if you ask them nicely or offer them some vouchers or discount, they’ll be likely to oblige. It costs nothing to ask them to do this and if they’re willing, they are essentially doing the marketing for you.

Write a regular blog

Over the last couple of years, it’s become a blogger’s world. Any self-respecting business has a website, and on that website is a regular blog; not least because this helps you stay afloat in the search rankings.

What you write in that blog is important, though. For instance, if your blog content is aimed at assisting people, they’ll be much more likely to go to your website for information purposes, and ultimately remember you when the time comes that they need something. Giving useful tips and insights encourages the reader to feel that you’re an expert in your field, and that you are interested in helping people out regardless of returns. Yes, it costs you time, but not so much; and if you’re able to write these blogs yourself, it will cost you nothing else.

Of course not everyone has writing ability, so if you are not blessed with the gift it’s probably better to leave it to someone who is; readers may judge your entire business based on errors they notice in your content. Get it right and your potential customers will view you as a good info source, and subsequently a trusted seller or service provider.

Networking and review requests you’ll have to do yourself, but when it comes to blogging and other forms of marketing, you may need a little help. Being the best online marketing agency in Marbella, we are confident that you could do a lot worse than to consult us on these subjects. We’ll be waiting for your call.